docs(lib): propose 1.0 roadmap

Author: seanmonstar

docs/ROADMAP.md

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+# hyper 1.0 Roadmap
+
+## Goal
+
+Align current hyper to the [hyper VISION][VISION].
+
+The VISION outlines a decision-making framework, use-cases, and general shape
+of hyper. This roadmap describes the currently known problems with hyper, and
+then shows what changes are needed to make hyper 1.0 look more like what is in
+the VISION.
+
+## Known Issues
+
+
+> **Note**: These known issues are as of hyper v0.14.x. After v1.0 is released,
+ideally these issues will have been solved. Keeping this history may be helpful
+to Future Us, though.
+
+### Higher-level Client and Server problems
+
+Both the higher-level `Client` and `Server` types have stability concerns.
+
+For the `hyper::Server`:
+
+- The `Accept` trait is complex, and too easy to get wrong. If used with TLS, a
+slow TLS handshake can affect all other new connections waiting for it to
+finish.  - The `MakeService<&IO>` is confusing. The bounds are an assault on
+the eyes.  - The `MakeService` API doesn't allow to easily annotate the HTTP
+connection with `tracing`.  - Graceful shutdown doesn't give enough control.
+
+
+It's more common for people to simply use `hyper::server::conn` at this point,
+than to bother with the `hyper::Server`.
+
+While the `hyper::Client` is much easier to use, problems still exist:
+
+- The whole `Connect` design isn't stable.
+  - ALPN and proxies can provide surprising extra configuration of connections.
+  - Some `Connect` implementations may wish to view the path, in addition to    the scheme, host, and port.
+  - Wants `runtime` feature
+- The Pool could be made more general or composable. At the same time, more customization is
+  desired, and it's not clear
+how to expose it yet.
+
+
+### Runtime woes
+
+hyper has been able to support different runtimes, but it has sometimes awkward
+default support for Tokio.
+
+- The `runtime` cargo-feature isn't additive
+- Built-in Tokio support can be confusing
+- Executors and Timers
+  - The `runtime` feature currently enables a few options that require a timer, such as timeouts and
+    keepalive intervals. It implicitly relies on Tokio's timer context. This can be quite confusing.
+- IO traits
+  - Should we publicly depend on Tokio's traits?
+  - `futures-io`?
+    - Definitely nope.
+    - Not stable. (0.3?)
+    - No uninitialized memory.
+  - Eventual `std` traits?
+    - They've been in design for years.
+    - We cannot base our schedule on them.
+    - When they are stable, we can:
+      - Provide a bridge in `hyper-util`.
+      - Consider a 2.0 of hyper.
+  - Define our own traits, provide util wrappers?
+
+### Forwards-compatibility
+
+There's a concern about forwards-compatibility. We want to be able to add
+support for new HTTP features without needing a new major version. While most
+of `http` and `hyper` are prepared for that, there's two potential problems.
+
+- New frames on an HTTP stream (body)
+   - Receiving a new frame type would require a new trait method
+     - There's no way to implement a "receive unknown frame" that hyper doesn't know about.
+   - Sending an unknown frame type would be even harder.
+     - Besides being able to pass an "unknown" type through the trait, the user would need to be
+       able to describe how that frame is encoded in HTTP/2/3.
+- New HTTP versions
+  - HTTP/3 will require a new transport abstraction. It's not as simple as just using some
+    `impl AsyncRead + AsyncWrite`. While HTTP/2 bundled the concept of stream creation internally,
+    and thus could be managed wholy on top of a read-write transport, HTTP/3 is different. Stream
+    creation is shifted to the QUIC protocol, and HTTP/3 needs to be able to use that directly.
+  - This means the existing `Connection` types for both client and server will not be able to
+    accept a QUIC transport so we can add HTTP/3 support.
+
+### Errors
+
+It's not easy to match for specific errors.
+
+The `Error::source()` can leak an internal dependency. For example, a
+`hyper::Error` may wrap an `h2::Error`. Users can downcast the source at
+runtime, and hyper internally changing the version of its `h2` dependency can
+cause runtime breakage for users.
+
+Formatting errors is in conflict with the current expected norm. The
+`fmt::Display` implementation for `hyper::Error` currently prints its own
+message, and then prints the message of any wrapped source error. The Errors
+Working Group currently recommends that errors only print their own message
+(link?). This conflict means that error "reporters", which crawl a source chain
+and print each error, has a lot of duplicated information.
+
+```
+error fetching website: error trying to connect: tcp connect error: Connection refused (os error 61)
+tcp connect error: Connection refused (os error 61)
+Connection refused (os error 61)
+```
+
+While there is a good reason for why hyper's `Error` types do this, at the very
+least, it _is_ unfortunate.
+
+### You call hyper, or hyper calls you?
+
+> Note: this problem space, of who calls whom, will be explored more deeply in
+> a future article.
+
+At times, it's been wondered whether hyper should call user code, or if user
+code should call hyper. For instance, should a `Service` be called with a
+request when the connection receives one, or should the user always poll for
+the next request.
+
+There's a similar question around sending a message body. Should hyper ask the
+body for more data to write, or should the user call a `write` method directly?
+
+These both get at a root topic about [write
+observability](https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/issues/2181). How do you know
+when a response, or when body data, has been written successfully? This is
+desirable for metrics, or for triggering other side-effects. 
+
+The `Service` trait also has some other frequently mentioned issues. Does
+`poll_ready` pull its complexity weight for servers? What about returning
+errors, what does that mean? Ideally users would turn all errors into
+appropriate `http::Response`s. But in HTTP/2 and beyond, stream errors are
+different from HTTP Server Error responses. Could the `Service::Error` type do
+more to encourage best practices?
+
+## Design
+
+The goal is to get hyper closer to the [VISION][], using that to determine the
+best way to solve the known issues above. The main thrust of the proposed
+changes are to make hyper more **Flexible** and stable.
+
+In order to keep hyper **Understandable**, however, the proposed changes *must*
+be accompanied by providing utilities that solve the common usage patterns,
+documentation explaining how to use the more flexible pieces, and guides on how
+to reach for the `hyper-util`ity belt.
+
+The majority of the changes are smaller and can be contained to the *Public
+API* section, since they usually only apply to a single module or type. But the
+biggest changes are explained in detail here.
+
+### Split per HTTP version
+
+The existing `Connection` types, both for the client and server, abstract over
+HTTP version by requiring a generic `AsyncRead + AsyncWrite` transport type.
+But as we figure out HTTP/3, that needs to change. So to prepare now, the
+`Connection` types will be split up.
+
+For example, there will now be `hyper::server::conn::http1::Connection` and
+`hyper::server::conn::http2::Connection` types.
+
+These specific types will still have a very similar looking API that, as the
+VISION describes, provides **Correct** connection management as it pertains to
+HTTP.
+
+There will be still be a type to wrap the different versions. It will no longer
+be generic over the transport type, to prepare for being able to wrap HTTP/3
+connections. Exactly how it will wrap, either by using internal trait objects,
+or an `enum Either` style, or using a `trait Connection` that each type
+implements, is something to be determined. It's likely that this "auto" type
+will start in `hyper-util`.
+
+### Focus on the `Connection` level
+
+As mentioned in the *Known Issues*, the higher-level `Client` and `Server` have
+stability and complexity problems. Therefore, for hyper 1.0, the main API will
+focus on the "lower-level" connection types. The `Client` and `Server` helpers
+will be moved to `hyper-util`.
+
+## Public API
+
+### body
+
+The `Body` struct is removed. Its internal "variants" are [separated into
+distinct types](https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/issues/2345), and can start
+in either `hyper-utils` or `http-body-utils`.
+
+The exported trait `HttpBody` is renamed to `Body`.
+
+A single `Body` implementation in `hyper` is the one provided by receiving
+client responses and server requests. It has the name `Streaming`.
+
+> **Unresolved**: Other names can be considered during implementation. Another
+> option is to not publicly name the implementation, but return `Response<impl
+Body>`s.
+
+The `Body` trait will be experimented on to see about making it possible to
+return more frame types beyonds just data and trailers.
+
+> **Unresolved**: What exactly this looks like will only be known after
+> experimentation.
+
+### client
+
+The high-level `hyper::Client` will be removed, along with the
+`hyper::client::connect` module. They will be explored more in `hyper-util`.
+
+As described in *Design*, the `client::conn` module will gain `http1` and
+`http2` sub-modules, providing per-version `SendRequest`, `Connection`, and
+`Builder` structs. An `auto` version can be explored in `hyper-util`.
+
+### error
+
+The `hyper::Error` struct remains in place.
+
+All errors returned from `Error::source()` are made opaque. They are wrapped an
+internal `Opaque` newtype that still allows printing, but prevents downcasting
+to the internal dependency.
+
+A new `hyper::error::Code` struct is defined. It is an opaque struct, with
+associated constants defining various code variants.
+
+> Alternative: define a non-exhaustive enum. It's not clear that this is
+> definitely better, though. Keeping it an opaque struct means we can add
+> secondary parts to the code in the future, or add bit flags, or similar
+> extensions.
+
+The purpose of `Code` is to provide an abstraction over the kind of error that
+is encountered. The `Code` could be some behavior noticed inside hyper, such as
+an incomplete HTTP message. Or it can be "translated" from the underlying
+protocol, if it defines protocol level errors. For example, an
+`h2::Reason::CANCEL`.
+
+### rt
+
+The `Executor` trait stays in here.
+
+Define a new trait `Timer`, which describes a way for users to provide a source
+of sleeping/timeout futures. Similar to `Executor`, a new generic is added to
+connection builders to provide a `Timer`.
+
+### server
+
+The higher-level `hyper::Server` struct, its related `Builder`, and the
+`Accept` trait are all removed.
+
+The `AddrStream` struct will be completely removed, as it provides no value but
+causes binary bloat.
+
+Similar to `client`, and as describe in the *Design*, the `conn` modules will
+be expanded to support `http1` and `http2` submodules. An `auto` version can be
+explored in `hyper-util`.
+
+### service
+
+A vendored and simplified `Service` trait will be explored.
+
+The error type for `Service`s used for a server will explore having the return
+type changed from any error to one that can become a `hyper::error::Code`.
+
+> **Unresolved**: Both of the above points are not set in stone. We will
+> explore and decide if they are the best outcome during development.
+
+The `MakeService` pieces will be removed.
+
+### Cargo Features
+
+Remove the `stream` feature. The `Stream` trait is not stable, and we cannot
+depend on an unstable API.
+
+Remove the `tcp` and `runtime` features. The automatic executor and timer parts
+are handled by providing implementations of `Executor` and `Timer`. The
+`connect` and `Accept` parts are also moving to `hyper-util`.
+
+### Public Dependencies
+
+- `http` - `http-body`?  - `bytes` - `tower-service`?
+
+Cannot be public while "unstable":
+
+- `tracing`
+
+## `hyper-util`
+
+
+### body
+
+A channel implementation of `Body` that has an API to know when the data has
+been successfully written is provided in `hyper_util::body::channel`.
+
+### client
+
+A `Pool` struct that implements `Service` is provided. It fills a similar role
+as the previous `hyper::Client`.
+
+> **Note**: The `Pool` might be something that goes into the `tower` crate
+> instead. Or it might stay here as a slightly more specialized racing-connect
+> pool. We'll find out as we go.
+
+A `connect` submodule that mostly mirrors the existing `hyper::client::connect`
+module is moved here. Connectors can be used as a source to provide `Service`s
+used by the `Pool`.
+
+### rt
+
+We can provide Tokio-backed implementations of `Executor` and `Timer`.
+
+### server
+
+A `GracefulShutdown` helper is provided, to allow for similar style of graceful
+shutdown as the previous `hyper::Server` did, but with better control.
+
+# Appendix
+
+## Unresolved Questions
+
+There are some parts of the proposal which are not fully resolved. They are
+mentioned in Design and API sections above, but also collected here for easy
+finding. While they all have _plans_, they are more exploratory parts of the
+API, and thus they have a higher possibility of changing as we implement them.
+
+The goal is to have these questions resolved and removed from the document by
+the time there is a [Release Candidate][timeline].
+
+### Should there be `hyper::io` traits?
+
+### Should returned body types be `impl Body`?
+
+### How could the `Body` trait prepare for unknown frames?
+
+We will experiment with this, and keep track of those experiments in a
+dedicated issue. It might be possible to use something like this:
+
+```rust pub trait Body { type Data; fn poll_frame(..) ->
+Result<Option<Frame<Self::Data>>>; }
+
+pub struct Frame<T>(Kind<T>);
+
+enum Kind<T> { Data(T), Trailers(HeaderMap), Unknown(Box<dyn FrameThingy>) }
+```
+
+### Should there be a simplified `hyper::Service` trait, or should hyper depend on `tower-service`?
+
+## FAQ
+
+### Why did you pick _that_ name? Why not this other better name?
+
+Naming is hard. We certainly should solve it, but discussion for particular
+names for structs and traits should be scoped to the specific issues. This
+document is to define the shape of the library API.
+
+### Should I publicly depend on `hyper-util`?
+
+The `hyper-util` crate will not reach 1.0 when `hyper` does. Some types and
+traits are being moved to `hyper-util`. As with any pre-1.0 crate, you _can_
+publicly depend on it, but it is explicitly less stable.
+
+In most cases, it's recommended to not publicly expose your dependency on
+`hyper-util`. If you depend on a trait, such as used by the moved higher-level
+`Client` or `Server`, it may be better for your users to define your own
+abstraction, and then make an internal adapter.
+
+### Isn't this making hyper harder?
+
+We are making hyper more **flexible**. As noted in the [VISION][], most use
+cases of hyper require it to be flexible. That _can_ mean that the exposed API
+is lower level, and that it feels more complicated. It should still be
+**understandable**.
+
+But the hyper 1.0 effort is more than just the single `hyper` crate. Many
+useful helpers will be migrated to a `hyper-util` crate, and likely improved in
+the process. The [timeline][] also points out that we will have a significant
+documentation push. While the flexible pieces will be in hyper to compose how
+they need, we will also write guides for the [hyper.rs][] showing people how to
+accomplish the most common tasks.
+
+[timeline]: https://seanmonstar.com/post/676912131372875776/hyper-10-timeline
+[VISION]: https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/pull/2772
+[hyper.rs]: https://hyper.rs